What is the most important Fundamental Concept of Excellence?

The LinkedIn-debate on this question I started a few weeks ago among the members of the EFQM Network for Sustainable Excellence has really taken off! However some more debate is needed…

As mentioned in my earlier blog the EFQM states no preference, but to get the discussion going I argued that Taking Responsibility for a Sustainable Future is the most important Fundamental Concept of Excellence.

A variety of views have been shared by the members in this discussion group and have included:

• Nice “academic question sparking debate”, however there is no most important Concept, but an organisation needs to take care of all Concepts to achieve sustainable results;
• Depending on the organisation’s goals, vision and strategic challenges at a specific point in time an organisation might need to give two or three Concepts more attention;
• That business survival is key and as a consequence Adding Value for Customers and Achieving Balanced Results are the most important Concepts;
• Things don’t move forward without leaders Leading with Vision, Inspiration and Integrity first;
• Organisations are made up of people, little happens without them, so Succeeding through People needs priority.

I was particularly struck by an interesting comparative question: “What is the most important room in the house?” For me it is the bathroom, but it was a difficult choice as I have a number of rooms to choose from. However there are many people in this world that don’t have a choice in this matter. 

With proposing the Concept Taking Responsibility for a Sustainable Future to be the most important I aimed to direct the discussion towards taking a more global perspective. To discuss maybe whether our current way of moving forward with an "inside-out focus" on the needs and expectations of the stakeholders will help us to address the global ecological and societal challenges lying on our doorstep? Would even an organisation striving for Sustainable Excellence take a wide enough view towards “all their stakeholders”? We perhaps need some debate on this topic?